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Stock market future indexes are pointing to moderately higher opening this morning (SPY +0.2%) with a fractional pullback later in the session. WTI crude prices are up almost 3 percent to $49.45 a barrel and the US dollar continues to slide.

Looking at the last three columns (below), the first one (Actual), is what was reported this morning. The second column (Forecast) is what analysts had forecast and the third column is the previous report. Full calendar HERE.

What Is Moving the Markets

LONDON (Reuters) - A bounce in oil and other commodities prodded stock markets higher on Monday, cushioning the hit to sentiment from a successful missile test by North Korea and a cyber attack that locked 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major U.S. multinationals are pushing the Trump administration to deepen the tax break it has already tentatively proposed on $2.6 trillion in corporate profits being held offshore, a key piece in Washington's intricate tax reform puzzle.

SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Asian governments and businesses reported some disruptions from the WannaCry ransomware worm on Monday but cybersecurity experts warned of a wider impact as more employees turned on their computers and checked e-mails.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil hit a three-week high on Monday above $52 a barrel after top exporter Saudi Arabia and Russia said supply cuts needed to last into 2018, a step toward extending an OPEC-led deal to support prices for longer than originally agreed.

(Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc , the world's No. 1 maker of scientific instruments, said on Monday it would buy Dutch drug ingredients maker Patheon NV as it looks to become a one-stop shop for contract drug development and manufacturing.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co has fallen behind its top North American competitors in the health of its working relationships with suppliers while General Motors Co jumped to third place in rankings released on Monday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Western Digital Corp has sought international arbitration to stop partner Toshiba Corp from selling its chips arm without its consent, potentially derailing a much-needed capital injection for the Japanese conglomerate.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. ride services company Lyft Inc and Alphabet Inc's self-driving car unit Waymo have launched a self-driving vehicle partnership, bringing together two rivals to dominant ride-sharing service Uber Technologies Inc.[UBER.UL]

As I was writing the newsletter this past weekend, the following email rolled into my inbox:

"The S&P will double. And not just eventually. But over the next 5 years (or sooner). Sounds like a Herculean task on the surface, but it's really not.

My 5-year doubling thesis also means that we won't see another recession until stocks double again, nor will we see another bear market until stocks double again. Got it?"

The email goes on to make the case as to why the markets will do something that has never occurred before in history, or "why this time is different," which can be summed up in one word - "Trumponomics"

"It's no secret that the market has been re-energized this year on the Trump administration's pro-growth agenda, which includes the highly anticipated corporate tax cuts.

There's no doubt some of that will go to stock buybacks. But with the US suddenly becoming one of the most business-friendly countries in the world, you will see massive new corporate investment.

These tax cuts alone could usher in decades of new prosperity.

And it should be noted that these aren't one-time stimulus packages that provide only temporary incentives and modest economic benefits. We're talking about transformational growth due to long-term ...

Goldman, which has been pushing for higher oil prices with seemingly daily bullish research reports for the past month, and which underwrote the last Saudi Arabian bond issue and is expected to also manage the Aramco IPO (explaining the bank's conflict of interest), released a note commeting on the latest development in the oil market, which sent the price of crude higher by 3% after Saudi and Russia oil minister agreed to extend the OPEC production cuts by another 9 months through the end of Q1 2018. Specifically, Goldman writes that "today's announcement will likely further extend the oil price rebound started last week on decent stock draws and low positioning, although the rally so far today has remained modest compared to the move that occurred last year when the OPEC cuts were first announced."

Even so, Goldman's oil analyst Damien Courvalin had some caveats. Specifically, he said that for the strategy to work, however, two things have to take place:

compliance needs to remain high and

long-term oil prices need to remain low to prevent shale producers from ramping up investment significantly more. In fact, an extension of the cuts should go hand in hand with guidance of future production increases by low cost producers, in our view, with an already notable emphasis by Saudi and others that oil prices will likely remain in a $45-55/bbl long-term range, in line with our forecasts. This leaves us reiterating our 3Q17 $57/bbl Brent price forecast and, with an increasingly likely extension of the cuts, raises our confidence that the oil market will shift into backwardation in 3Q17.

His full note below:

Saudi and Russia commit to a 9-month extension of oil production cuts

Saudi Arabia and Russia announced today, May 15, that they had reached an agreement to extend their oil output cuts for another nine months, through Mar-18. This anno ...

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